Notes

‘The title [Little Morals] comes from Adorno’s Minima Moralis but Goya was in mind. This was the second set of prints that Deborah Bell, Robert Hodgins and I worked on, again at Caversham Press with Malcolm Christian. It was less tightly constructed than the Hogarth series. In using a sugar lift technique I had Picasso’s sugar lifts in mind. The series was made in the early nineties transitional period in South Africa; after the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of political organisations, before the first democratic elections in 1994. This was a period of extreme intensity; enormous possibilities seemed to be opening up, whilst there was also a real threat that the process toward democracy might be derailed by violence. One of the miracles of the transition was that it was achieved without a civil war, although the peaceful process was not without its casualties. There was also a sense that while for many there would be a complete transformation in their lives following the transition, for as many, circumstances would be as hard as ever.”¹

1. William Kentridge, quoted in Bronwyn Law-Viljoen (2006) William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg; David Krut, page 42.

Provenance

Caversham Press.

Literature

David Krut (2006) William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg: David Krut, illustrated on pages 42 and 43.